482 



■The tropical agriculturist. [January i, 1886. 



to apply so as to secure success in the culture 

 of the pearl-bearing bivalve. Besides the reasons 

 for failure adduced by Capt. Itonnan, it seems 

 quite possible that the higher tenijicrature of com- 

 paratively shallow water may have had an in- 

 jurious effect. I'nlike the edible oyster, tlu' pearl 

 mussel seems to flourish best in comparatively deep 

 water, from four to seven fathoms. Not only is 

 the sea-water still at such depths, but it is cpiite 

 possible that many of the predatory fish, which 

 are so destructive to the shells, do not exist 

 at, or but rarely visit, such deep floors of the sea 

 as constitute the habitat of the " pearl oysters.'' 

 The results of successful culture in converting a 

 capricious but welcome source of revenue into con- 

 stant productiveness would be so important to 

 the colony and all its interests, that we cannot 

 doubt (:io\ernment will afford Capt. Donnan all 

 possible aid as well as encouragement in his inter- 

 esting and intelligent efforts to cultivate the pearl 

 oyster. 



— ♦ 



TE.\ IN THE LOWCOUNTEY OF CEYLON. 



Coi.oMiio, r>th Dee. 1885. 



The land actually under tea in tlie lowcountry 

 districts, principally in the Kelani Valley anil 

 Kalutara or Kaluganga ^'aIley with outlying estates, 

 cannot be less than 14,000 acres, which is being 

 added to every day ; the greater portion of this 

 is not yet in full bearing, but, as low tea gives a 

 good return within two years, tlie whole of this 

 large acreage will be in fnll crop witliin the 

 next two years. That the cultivation of tea in the 

 lowcountry of Ceylon is an umiualitied success, no 

 one can doubt who has seen tlie estates. .\ good 

 deal of poor land has been planted which will 

 probably run down unless manured, but the greater 

 portion of the land under cultivation or about to 

 be planted is good tea .soil, and the low lands where 

 not too frequently Hooded both in the \alley of 

 the Kaluganga and Kelani rivers are admirably 

 adapted for the cultivation, whilst the high land 

 even on steep slopes of the lower ranges of the 

 hills is not only far superior to what I expected 

 but there is an e\en regularity in the fields which 

 is very beautiful and very pleasing to the eye. and 

 what is of much greater imjiortance to the planter 

 the yield from the hill or steep land though in- 

 terior to the heavy soil of the flats is very satis- 

 factory. It is difficult to arrive at anything like 

 a true average of the yield from the low districts 

 as the tea is of all ages and much of it has 

 been planted to replace Liberian coffee or cacao, 

 and the tea has not had a fair chance whilst 

 some of the fields have been planted as wide as 

 fi X fi and others arc as close as 3 \ 3. I saw 

 one field five years old planted (i .5 which 



gave 700 lb. cured tea to the acre. I consider 100 

 lb. a fair but safe average to look fur from the 

 Kelani and Kaluganga valleys. 



The acreage of available land adapted tor tea 

 cultivation within a radius of fifty miles of Colombo 

 is practically unlimited, but the manner in wliich 

 the land is being blocked out and sold seems to 

 me to be without system, and at present the estates 

 are detached or in small groups, making tliem 

 more or less difiicult of access and difficult to 

 road systematically. Why there should be any ob- 

 jection to opening up, say, the whole of the Kelani 

 Valley from .\wisawella to CTinigathena with the 

 various attluents and valleys of the Kelani river. 

 I cannot see: the rainfall is not only ample but 

 superabundant, and the climate even for tea would 

 be greatly better if the rainfall was not quite so 

 much. There is very little virgin forest left, but the 



wilderness of bamboo and thorny chena makes the 

 country almost impenetrable, cattle cannot graze, 

 and tlio laud is at present not only utterly useless 

 Jnit it harbours all manner of \ermin destructive 

 to poultry and everything, and the damp rank 

 vegetation and decaying matter renders the country 

 during the dry months tevev-stricken and unhealthy. 

 Some 200,000 or 300,000 rupees have already passed 

 into the hands of the villagers for felling and 

 roading, and every acre felled means one cooly to 

 feed and his p.ay mostly spent amongst the villages. 

 This being the case, wliy there should be any desire 

 on the part of tlovernment not to allow the country 

 to be opened up, I cannot conceive. At present 

 everything away from the tea estates is in a state 

 of stagnation. I have never at any time known the 

 road between Colombo and Awisawella so bad as it 

 is now apart altogether from the Hooding of the 

 low places ; and as for the road from Awisawella 

 to Yatiyantota it is simply a wilderness, the drains 

 are overgrown with lantsina and the middle of the 

 road is a grazing ground for cattle, whilst the" 

 minor roads are unbridged and dangerous. It is 

 fortmnate for the tea-planter that the river aiJ'ords 

 good and cheap transport, or he would be utterly 

 at a loss to get his crop away. 



The District Association should take up the matter 

 of transport and road extension and improvement. 

 The proposed new road from the '27th milepost 

 near .\wisawella to Labugama, if opened up, will 

 prove not only a very valuable and useful road, 

 but will open up a large tract of valuable tea land 

 at present useless and waste and enable the pro- 

 prietors to get out much timber fit for staves and 

 tea boxes. J.^sies Iiivine. 

 . -^ 



FOR PL.A.NTERS AND CI'LTIVATORS fJKNEK- 



ALLY:— ONE OR TWO THINGS AVORTH 



KNOAVING : 



TREES I'OR SHADE — A MAHKET KOU ORANGES AND LE.MONS 

 IHOM CEYLOX— MEDICAL USES 01" IITHON FKUIT— CULT- 

 IVATEU FEUtTS. 



Kaiidy, L'!)th Nov. 1S85. 

 Sir,— I understaud that in some jilautafions trees 

 are grown, such as the jak and ethers, fur shading 

 coffee, cacao, &c. On the way up from Colombo, I 

 have seen jak so grown. This, however, is a tree that 

 1 will goon growing and extending its roots, to the 

 probable disadvantage of the shrubs iu the plantation. 

 I would suggest tbe trial of the ..It/nti i/i\niiHttorii. I 

 have been making experiments with it in the S.-W. P. 

 j of India, where it grows verj- well. For shading plants, 

 I think there is notbiag liki- it. Its leaves are piiiu- 

 I ate, anil its foliage of the [-roper density, .so that the 

 rays of the sun are broken up into liglit and sbaile, 

 which cross each other below, and make a delightful 

 half-shade of the straiigth ueediil by plants tbat'sutfrr 

 by direct sunlight. It grows so rapiilly from seed, if 

 .sown at tbe commencement of the rains, tbat in one 

 yew, iu t'pper India, it attains tbe height of 20 feet. 

 I In Ceylon its growth might be still more rapid. Tbe 

 stem in one year is three inches in iliameter. It grows 

 straight and has a bead about 10 foet acruss. Up to 

 the height of a manor more it can with tbe greatest 

 ease be kept to one clean stem, so tbat it offers facil- 

 ities for weeding, &c. The height to which the lower 

 branches can l>e stripped off can lie suited to tbe 

 . needs of the plantation. SbonM it be found tbat it 

 j tikes too much out of the soil wlinii full-grown, a suc- 

 I cession of trees can be kept up, and the older ones cut 

 j down. Finally the .\giti is not at all a useless tree in 

 ! otherrespects. Every part of it is fit for food. The lea es 

 make good .snnp, and are eaten by natives as vegetables. 

 The tl.iwers make a good curry and mixed with butter 

 or whipped eggs make good fritters; tbe young pods 

 can be eaten boiled, as French beans ; .and T have nn 

 doubt (though this [ have not tiiedl the seeds might 

 be eaten as • dal,' or roasted and eaten as parcbeil iirani, 

 so that the lower branches, as the tree grows, would 



